Authors note: Hey guys! This is my first actual story ever. So, if the first few chapters have some flaws, let me know, but be nice about it. I wasn't even going to post this until I got several chapters done, but I figured it'd be best to get some feedback to help with the process. There isn't going to be a set schedule for this story since I don't know how much time I will be able to devote. I get two days off from work a week, but I'm usually pretty burned out by then. Reviews would motivate me to work more and faster though, so if you see some potential in this story, let me know. Thanks a bunch for reading!
Chapter 1: The new Guildmate
"I'm back everyone!" Makarov, an extremely small old man, exclaimed as he walked through the large front doors of the guild.
"Welcome back, Master." Erza, a thirteen year old, armor clad mage with scarlet hair pulled back into a large braid, greeted. "How was the meeting? Why are you nearly a week late getting back? We were about to send someone to look for you."
"Geeze you ask a lot of questions you armored freak!" Mirajane, a gothic-looking girl of about the same age with white hair pulled back into a ponytail by a black ribbon, shouted from her table a few feet away.
"Mira-nii! Do you have to start something already! It's only eight o'clock!" Lisanna, Mira's younger sister whined.
"What did you say you midriff showing freak!" Erza shouted and charged at the other girl before Makarov had the chance to answer any of her questions. And the fight was on. Punches, kicks, magic, and insults were flying between the two girls.
Makarov sighed and headed to the bar where he knew his drinking buddies Macao and Wabaka would be.
"So what did take you so long?" Macao, a thirty-six year old man with dark blue hair, asked.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Makarov exclaimed and turned around in his seat to face the doors he just entered. There a small, somewhat emaciated girl about the age of fourteen with bandages covering her arms and neck and sickly-pale skin stood, glaring at the floor.
She had long, black hair that reached her midsection; a long, choppy fringe that covered the entire left side of her face and left ear all the way down to her chin; long, uneven bangs that hung slightly in the one eye that was visible and one that framed the right side of her face; and the ends of her hair kept the same uneven style as her fringe and bangs. Her facial features consisted of one visible eye that was a haunting, pale silver color and was surrounded by think, black lines with two lashes sticking out of the corner. She also had a few piercings on her face as well; one metal stud on the right side of her nose, one stud on the lobe of her visible ear, and two rings that went up the shell of her ear above the stud. She wore a punk-rock type of outfit that consisted of a black and white stripped, V-neck tank top that cut off a few inches above her bellybutton with a glaring skull and crossbones motif with a cracked right eye socket on the front; black cargo pants that were tucked into black combat boots that went up to the middle of her leg and had a series of buckles down their length; a black, spiked choker with a silver skull on the front of it; a white and black, checkered wristband on her right wrist accompanied by several different colored jelly bracelets; a black, spiked wristband on her left wrist; a black, spiked belt that was secured on the right side, but allowed to hang loose on the left side; chain suspenders that were also allowed to hang loose; and black nail polish which painted her long, sharply pointed fingernails.
"What's with the scary looking chick, gramps?" Laxus, Makarov's seventeen year old grandson asked.
"She's our newest guild member." Makarov replied before calling out enthusiastically to the girl. "What are you waiting for, Rune?! Come on over here so I can introduce you!"
"I'd rather not…" She mumbled to herself, but obediently did as she was told while still glaring at the ground.
"This is Rune Greywolf; she will be joining the guild." The old man introduced the young girl. "She's actually the reason I was late. I found her unconscious and badly injured in the forest on the outskirts of Clover Town when I went for a walk. I took her to the hospital and waited for her to recover enough that she could come here."
"Heh. Pathetic." Laxus sneered. "She looks like she'll drop dead if ya poke her too hard. I don't even think she could handle being a mage."
This caused the girl to redirect her glare from the floor to him. It was then that he got a full view of the icy-cold hatred that was present in her eyes, and the shards of blood-red coloring that had suddenly appeared within the pale silver iris. It sent a frightful chill down his spine.
"If looks could kill!" He thought.
"She has a strong magic-aura, so I have reason to believe she was quite the powerful mage at one point. As for her physical state, apparently she escaped from a rather bad situation that resulted in her appearance at the moment. All she needs is some time to recover and to put on some weight and she'll be fine." Makarov assured.
"Whatever, she still looks pretty freakin' weak to me. Besides, if she was strong, she wouldn't have passed out in the first place." The teen scoffed.
That made Rune snap.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ME, YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME, AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN DECIDING WHO'S WEAK AND WHO'S NOT!" She roared in anger with a hint of what sounded almost like a feral snarl.
"Whoa! Calm down, kid!" Wabaka, a thirty-six year old man with brown, pompadour-styled hair, exclaimed with his hands out in front of himself defensively.
"DON'T EVER CALL ME KID! I'VE SEEN AND DONE THINGS THAT WOULD BRING A GROWN MAN TO TEARS! I AM NO KID!" She raged on.
"Okay! Okay! We won't call you a kid! Just calm down!" Macao exclaimed with his hands in the same defensive position as Wabaka's.
"Calm down? Calm down!? I was CALM until that JACKASS over there opened his mouth!" Rune snapped and whipped her head toward the man who was responsible for her being here in the first place. "This is why I didn't want to come here in the first place! I hate people; I told you that!"
Suddenly Rune's demeanor went from livid to very sad, catching everyone by surprise more than her sudden outburst of anger.
"You should've just left me there to die…. It would've been better that way…." Rune said sadly while returning her gaze to the floor.
Makarov stood up in his chair and took Rune's chin in his fist, forcing her to look him in the eye. "Rune…. I know you've been through a lot, and though I don't know what that may since you won't give any details, I do know that it's no reason to think that way…." He said in a fatherly tone.
"You don't know that….." Rune whispered and turned her head away.
Makarov sighed in defeat. Hopefully the girl would come around eventually and talk about whatever is wrong with her. "Well, let me introduce you to the rest of the guild and then I'll have someone escort you to Fairy Hills. Okay?"
Rune nodded and turned to face the rest of the people in the guild.
"ALRIGHT YOU BRATS, LISTEN UP!" Makarov shouted, effectively bringing all fights and conversations to a halt. "This is Rune! She is our newest guild member. I want you to make her feel at home here, but don't overdo it. Is that clear?!"
Everyone in the guild nodded to show that they understood what he wanted from them.
"Good! Now, has anyone seen Erza?" Makarov asked, looking around the guildhall for the scarlet haired girl.
"She went to go find Natsu and Gray." Levy, an eleven year old girl with striking blue hair, answered.
"Okay. Has anyone seen Mirajane?" He began to look for the other girl.
"She went chasing after Erza, screaming at her to finish their fight." Elfman, Mirajane's younger brother, told him.
Makarov sighed in frustration. "What about you, Levy?"
"I-I would, but Jet, Droy and I are leaving for a mission. If we don't go now, we'll miss the last train to the town we need to get to..."
"Why don't we have more girls in this guild!?" Makarov said.
"S-sorry, Master." Levy apologized.
"It's alright, child. There's nothing that can be done for it. Go on to your mission, and you three had better be careful." The old man said.
"We will, Master!" Levy said with a warm smile as she skipped off to meet her team-mates.
"Alright then. Laxus! Escort Rune to Fairy Hills for me." Makarov ordered.
"Why do I have to, Gramps!?" Laxus complained.
"You wanted to be Guild Master when I retired, right? Well, this is part of the job, so you better get used to it." Makarov said.
"If it's part of being the Guild Master, then why aren't you doing it?!" Laxus retorted.
"Because of another part of being a Guild Master. Paperwork." Makarov stated.
"But, she's crazy! Did you not see what just happened?!" Laxus shouted.
"Laxus!" The old man chided.
"No. It's fine; I don't need his help, or anyone else's. I'll find it myself." Rune said before quickly turning towards the door and leaving.
"Go apologize right now and take her to Fairy Hills like I told you to!" Makarov ordered.
"I have nothing to apologize for; you know it's true. Besides, it's not my fault you brought her here, so she's not my responsibility." Laxus countered. "Why did you bring her here anyway?"
"Because I couldn't leave her there to die and I couldn't just let her loose in the world in the physical and emotional condition she's in. I don't know what on Earthland that child could have gone through to make her that way, but something has severely damaged her her. I was hoping that bringing her here would help." Makarov explained. "But you're just making it worse! You've always had a hard time with knowing when to shut up and keep things to yourself! Your behavior had gotten entirely out of hand lately, and that needs to change! If you EVER want to be Guild Master, then you had better shape up and start giving a damn about someone other than yourself! Honestly; what happened to you!? You used to be such a sweet, caring boy…. What happened to that Laxus?"
"Okay! Okay! I'll go! I'll go! Just don't bring up the "back when you little" lecture again!" And with that, he ran out the door to catch up with the girl.
It didn't take long for Laxus to catch up with the girl, which she was not happy about.
"What do you want?" Rune said with such venom in her voice it made the older teen flinch slightly.
"I came to take you to fairy Hills like Gramps told me to." Laxus said matter of factly.
"I said I didn't need your help! I can find it myself!" Rune growled.
"You can, can you? Then explain why you are heading in the completely opposite direction." Laxus said in a smug tone.
"BECAUSE NO ONE GAVE ME A DIRECTION TO LOOK IN, YOU JERK!" She screamed and ran in the direction she had been heading.
"What are you doing!? I told you that was the wrong way!" The boy called after her.
"I said I'd find it myself and that's exactly what I intend to do! I'm going to look as if you never showed up in the first place!" She shouted over her shoulder.
"Oh no you don't!" Laxus shouted and took off after her.
For a girl in as frail of a condition as she was, Rune was surprisingly fast and nimble. You would have thought she was a parkour champion or something because she was jumping off walls to avoid people, jumping over decorative walls and flower boxes without trouble, using flagpoles hanging off the sides of buildings to propel herself up onto the balconies of the buildings that lined the streets, jumping from balcony to balcony without fear of missing despite the large gap between some of them. Eventually, Rune ran out of balconies to jump to as she reached the town square, but that didn't stop her as Laxus had hoped it would. Without even a thought about it, she jumped from the last balcony and did a perfect tuck and roll to avoid injury. The movement was so fluid she practically hit the ground running.
She bolted into an alley that Laxus knew was blocked off by a fence, and he smirked. "Got ya now, twerp!"
His hopes were soon dashed when she jumped over it, catching the top with her hands and tucking in her legs so she could make it over without catching her clothing and make a smooth landing. Laxus was strong and fast, but he was not a jumper; his bulky build made sure of that. So, he had no choice but to climb over it, which cost him some distance. He ran faster than ever to catch up. There was only a strait path through the alley that she could follow, so it wasn't like he had to worry about her weaving around though, which made things at least somewhat easier for him.
Then, just as she made it to the other side of the alley, she froze. There was a drop off that lead to the town's channel system, and this was one of the few areas where three sides were surrounded by water. The distance to the other side in front of her was one she could easily make, and yet, she didn't jump. Laxus wasn't expecting the sudden stop, and was unable to stop in time. He slammed into her back and sent them both over the edge. Rune let out a scream of pure terror as she hit the water and promptly started drowning. Laxus grabbed her and dragged her out, growling in anger the entire time out of anger.
"Thanks, ya dumb bitch! Now I'm totally soaked! You're just lucky I didn't have my sound pod with me, or you'd be dead!" Laxus shouted as he dropped her on the concrete.
Rune didn't seem to even hear his harsh words, she was too busy shaking as she pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned her back against the wall.
Laxus looked at her curiously. The water wasn't warm, but it sure wasn't cold enough to cause someone to shake like that.
"Oi! You even listening to me!?" Laxus shouted, snapping Rune out of her trance.
The girl quickly scrambled to her feet and tried to take off again, but Laxus grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back so hard she landed on her bottom on the hard concrete. Laxus wasted no time in picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatos. She naturally began struggling right away.
"LET GO OF ME! PUT ME DOWN!" She shrieked in protest.
"You were the one who decided to be difficult." He said flatly. "Now calm down before you really piss me off."
Rune did stop screaming and struggling, but only to allow her hand to be enveloped in jet black magic energy; this energy then began to form long, sharp claws. She swiftly buried the claws into the older mage's back before he could notice what she was doing, causing him to hiss in pain.
"What the hell was that for!?" He yelled.
"I told you to put me down! Now, do it or I'll get you again!" She yelled back.
"Oh no you don't!" He placed the palm of his free hand on her back and sent a jolt of electricity up her spine. Surprisingly, she didn't shriek in pain as one would expect someone who had just been electrocuted to. She did, however, become rigid before becoming limp and motionless, as one would expect.
"I….c-can't…..move…." She struggled to say.
"That's the point. You could have just held still and let me take you to Fairy Hills, but no; that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" he said sarcastically.
Rune fell silent in defeat. She couldn't move, hell, she could barely speak; there was nothing she could do at this point. But, she vowed to get back at the lightning mage one day before passing out.
Laxus snorted in annoyance and started off toward Fairy Hills. Of course, he got some weird looks from the people he passed; carrying around an unconscious girl will get that reaction, you know. He didn't care though; it was none of their business. Thankfully, Rune seemed to have given up the fight, because she hadn't so much as complained yet even though they had been walking long enough to be nearly half way there.
It was then that it hit him. "Shit! The water!"
Rune was soaked to the bone when he shocked her, which made the charge more powerful than he had meant it to be. Not to mention that she was in a weakened state as it were. I mean, the girl had so little meat on her bones that Laxus had already had to readjust her on his shoulder several times because her bones were digging into his shoulder uncomfortably. He could still feel her pulse and her breathing, so she was at least alive, but he knew he was really in for it when he reached their destination.